Answering Destiny's Call
by LadyAlesha
Summary: Bored to death, Narcissa Black embarks on a mysterious adventure leading her deep into a maze where danger and peril await her. Braving one obstacle after another, she finally finds something, she never thought she'd see again.


Disclaimer: Nothing's mine, everything belongs to the lovely JKR.

Author's Note: This was written as an answer to the Writing Maze Challenge on the MNFF Beta Boards. I know that Umbridge didn't have anything to do with Hogwarts at the time Narcissa was there as a student, but I had to put her in, so please bear with me here.

* * *

**Answering Destiny's Call  
**

Her head held high Narcissa entered the Great Hall and made her way to her seat at the far end of the Slytherin Table. The silver-blonde sixth year was bored out of her mind. Since her older sister Bellatrix and her friends had graduated three years earlier, there was hardly anyone worth associating with left at Hogwarts.

She had never been really close with Rabastan and only continued to spend time with him now, because Bella was getting married to his brother. Even though Narcissa thought the Lestranges were beneath the Blacks, she wouldn't dream of endangering her sister's wedding. Then there was Regulus, her younger cousin was her favourite relative after Bella, but there were some things that he just couldn't understand.

Narcissa missed having another girl around. Sometimes all she wanted to do was curl up in front of the fire with her sister and spend the whole night talking to her. Although they didn't always agree, the two sisters had shared everything in the past and Narcissa missed having someone to confide in.

The arrival of the owl post put a stop to her musings when a large barn owl landed right in front of her. Narcissa eyed the unfamiliar bird curiously as she untied the letter. Maybe Bella had bought a new owl for the family owlery? Or could it be … ? _No _ , Narcissa thought firmly, _Andromeda knows better than to try and contact me. She made her choice! She's no longer a Black and never will be again._ At first Narcissa had been hurt. But now she just felt resentment for her sister, who had renounced her family and all they stood for in order to marry a Mudblood.

Narcissa's eyes took the letter in without comprehending, what she was seeing. Someone sent her a poem? She was utterly confused. Reading it carefully, she tried to figure out what it meant.

_Irresistible lure,Custom-built prize,  
Awaits the doer  
Who makes it in time._

_Just for you,  
Was this treasure made,  
Collect the clues,  
And survive the maze._

_If you can name it,   
This thing with danger bought,  
Then you can claim it,  
But don't get caught._

_Outside the doorsAt ten tonight   
With skills yours  
Your glory will shine bright. _

The second she finished reading; the parchment went up in flames. Deep in thought, Narcissa didn't do more than glance at the pile of ashes lying on the table in front of her. Having lived in a very secretive family all her live, she was used to letters burning themselves after being read. She even knew the spell herself.

The letter had intrigued her. Always up for a chance to prove her skills, Narcissa would have had no inhibitions about this maze, had it not been for the lack of information. She wanted to know who had sent the letter before she rushed into this and put herself in danger.

All day long her mind was preoccupied with thoughts about the maze. Ten o'clock drew nearer and she wasn't closer to a decision than she had been right after receiving the letter.

At quarter to ten she got up from her seat in front of the fireplace. Even though she hated being unprepared, her curiosity wouldn't let her stay away from the maze.

A cool breeze made her hair fly around wildly the moment she stepped outside the castle. She cursed herself for not bringing a ribbon, but there was no time to go back to the dungeons for one. After a quick look around, she spotted the maze, or rather an impossibly high wall of shrubs situated on the edge of the school grounds.

She approached the towering structure slowly. Her hand was grasping her wand inside her cloak. Not a soul could be seen. A shiver ran down Narcissa's spine. Something inside the maze was beckoning her to come closer. Pushing any inkling of fear aside, Narcissa drew her wand and rounded the corner of the maze. What was meant to be the entrance, but in reality was no more than a man-sized hole in the shrubs, lay in front of her. Still no one could be seen.

"_Lumos!_ " A soft light emanated from the top of her. She waited. When she was sure that no one would appear to tell her what to do, she heeded the maze's call and entered.

The first thing Narcissa noticed was how narrow the path in front of her was. The shrubs to either side seemed to be pressing in on her. It was as if a weight had been laid on her chest and she could hardly breathe.

Except for the small circle of light her wand provided, the path was blanketed in darkness. Narcissa hated narrow places. She felt vulnerable, because if anything attacked her now, she wouldn't be able to dodge the attack. She shuddered, but moved along the path, away from the safety of the normal world and towards whatever might await her in the maze.

Finally reaching the end of the long dark path, she grabbed her wand tighter and rounded the corner, ready for an attack that never came.

What lay in front of her took Narcissa's breath away. She seemed to be in some kind of garden, a small brick path ran through an abundance of grass dotted here and there by Geranium or Daisies. The edge of the lawn was marked by a row of Privet and Yew trees, which formed a solid barrier around the garden area. Moonlight basked everything in a silvery glow.

Although there were still impenetrable walls all around her, Narcissa felt less caged in than she had before. The weight she had felt while walking down the narrow path behind the entrance was gone. Her breathing returned to normal. Feeling completely at ease, Narcissa pocketed her wand again.

Some way ahead of her a small path branched off to the left. She could make out a patch of bright orange pumpkins, but otherwise the path seemed to lead to a dead end. Following the main path, she soon realized, that it led to another dead end. A large stone bench, standing just a few feet short of the dead end, caught her eye as she drew nearer.

Suddenly a bout of violent sneezing struck her. Completely bewildered, Narcissa looked down to see dozens of white flowers innocently swaying in the wind – sneezewort. She quickened her steps, wanting to get away from the sneezewort as fast as possible.

She didn't spare the ginger and valerian roots so much as a glance as she passed them. Her mind was already trying to imagine, what she would have to do to get out of the garden area. Finally coming to a stop before the stone bench, her eyes were immediately drawn to the small Dragon-Leather notebook sitting in the middle of it. She opened it to the first page and read:

_In my midst you're sure to find_

_Plants and Herbs of every kind _

_Search me well and you will see  
Fluxweed, Hellebore, Gillyweed_

_Beware the Mandrake's cry if you  
Should ever dig for Gurdyroot_

_Before you leave me you must bring  
Lovage, dittany and Shrivelfig_

_And in my pages you must write  
The other names of aconite_

_With that the door will open wide  
And you may take of what I hide_

_So stop to ponder if you will_

_The Malowsweet won't make you ill_

Quickly flicking through the rest of the book she found information on nearly every magical plant there was. Most pages were adorned with a picture, some information on the plant itself and its uses in several potions.

She turned her attention towards the other items arranged on the bench. The far end was lined by an assortment of jars and containers full of plants and roots. To her left, a small sack was sitting next to a Mimbulus Mimbletonia. She determined that she wouldn't be able to find what she was looking for on the table with one cursory glance.

Naturally the plants she was looking for hadn't been mentioned in the book, so she tried to recall everything she knew about them. _Dittany_ , she remembered, _is white or pale purple in colour. If I didn't want someone to find it, where would I put it?_

Narcissa looked back over the garden, mentally revisiting every step she had taken on her way to the stone bench. The journey had been fairly uneventful, just a regular walk, if you didn't count the sneezing fit caused by the sneezewort. _The WHITE sneezewort _, she corrected herself. That's where it had to be! What would be a better place to hide a white or almost white flower than in the midst of white flowers, which caused violent sneezing?

Narcissa crossed the distance separating her from the white flower patch and lowered herself to her knees in front of it. Instantly she started to sneeze again. Trying her best to ignore her predicament she parted the flowers, looking for purple amidst a sea of white. The longer she stayed the more violent her sneezing became. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, making her eyes look red and puffy. Finally, when she was just about to give up, she spotted a tiny purple flower all the way at the other end of the patch. With a triumphant cry she plucked it and carried it back to the stone bench.

She rested at the stone bench for a minute, willing her eyes to stop watering. Opening the notebook again she reread the poem. She wasn't ready to go on another plant-hunt, so she picked up an old quill lying next to the book, opened an empty page and wrote the word 'Aconite' on top of it. Smiling to herself, she quickly scribbled the names 'Monkshood' and 'Wolfsbane' underneath it, adding 'Dumbledore's Delight', the plants folk name, for good measure. Lucky for her, she had just come across this piece of information the other day while working on a Potions essay.

Having completed that part of her task, she embarked on another search of the garden. It didn't take her long to find a Shrivelfig behind the pumpkin patch, a Lovage plant between the ginger and valerian roots, and to bring both of them back to the stone bench.

A rustling noise behind her made Narcissa spin around, her wand at the ready again in a heartbeat. Two big Yew trees, which had previously blocked the way, had moved to the side, revealing another narrow path. Seeing no threat Narcissa stepped through the gateway and followed the path. The trees closed again behind her.

The sides of the maze narrowed in and darkened. Pushing through a particularly tight squeeze, she stumbled into a close room-like structure. Right in front of her, blocking her path, was her aunt's big family tree tapestry. Stunned into motionlessness, Narcissa's gaze wandered down to the foot of the tapestry, instinctively looking for her own family.

A shocked gasp escaped her mouth. There, where her own name should have been; right next to the burn mark, where Andromeda's name had been; was another, identical burn mark. Only slowly did the implications of what she was seeing sink into her brain. Her name had been removed from the tapestry; she herself had been removed from the fold.

Pain sliced through her, she felt as if a part of her very soul was ripped from her. Who was she without her family? What had she done to deserve such a cruel punishment? She had worked so hard, had tried to prove herself worthy time and time again, what had she done wrong? Narcissa's entire world came crashing down around her.

Her family was gone, taken from her with the simple action of erasing her name on the family tree. There was nothing she could do to bring it back. Emptiness took hold of her. What was she to do? Everything she did, she did for her family. She had never cared about what anyone else thought of her, all that had always mattered to her was her family. She wanted her family, her older sister most of all, to be proud of her. She wanted them to know how much she loved them. Had that been her mistake? Had her love made her weak? Had she somehow failed her family, failed the blood flowing in her veins?

Backing away from the tapestry she collided with a wall of some kind. What seemed to be a thick branch was sticking into her back uncomfortably. And suddenly she remembered where she was, what she was doing. With this realisation came the knowledge that she had allowed her emotions free reign over her mind once again. What she saw in front of her was simply impossible. How could her aunt's tapestry be right in the middle of a maze outside of Hogwarts? It couldn't!

Picking her wand up from where it had fallen to the ground, she forced herself to look right at the horrid burn mark. Taking a deep breath she focused on the tapestry and shouted: " _Riddikulus!_ " The tapestry turned bright pink immediately. A relieved laugh bubbled from Narcissa's mouth even though tears were still flowing from her eyes.

The boggart changed its form and fled as soon as she began laughing. Still giggling, Narcissa wiped her eyes and continued on deeper into the maze. The path grew darker and narrower the further she went, but it didn't feel quite as oppressive as the path behind the entrance had felt. She kept her wand in her hand this time, not wanting to be surprised again.

After walking down the path for several minutes, Narcissa reached another dead end. She looked around curiously, searching for the next clue. When she couldn't find anything on the ground and under the lower branches of the shrubs to either side of her, she glanced up at the night sky.

There, in the air above her, hovered a black canvas, covered by another poem written in bright red letters:

_My single eye had sought to see much more,_

_The roundness of my back was no mere infection._

_In death my memory guards a passage to nectar's door,_

_In life I cured those with firebeast's affliction._

_Oh great, a riddle_ , Narcissa groaned inwardly. After the emotional roller coaster the boggart had put her through, she didn't feel up to solving a riddle. Nevertheless she had to at least try to solve it. The mysterious pull she felt down to her very core was still there, drawing her deeper into the maze. She had faced her worst fear, what could be more frightening than that?

Rereading the four lines, Narcissa decided that they had to be talking about a creature of some kind. _It has to be something, that lived at one time, but is now dead. It had only one eye and a humpback._ The last two lines didn't make sense to her. How could a memory guard a passage? And what could a 'firebeast's affliction' be?

Leaving the parts, she didn't understand, alone for the time being, she tried to remember different human-like creatures, that were able to cure someone. Coming up empty, she decided that maybe the riddle was referring to an actual person, not a creature.

_Alright, someone famous, because we still know him today, who cured some weird illness, had only one eye and was hump-backed. Now, let's see, what the memory part could mean._ Narcissa mentally listed all the methods to safe one's memories or to be remembered in her mind: a pensieve, a diary, a painting, a statue. A diary and a pensieve weren't really suitable for guarding a passage, so it had to be either a painting or a statue.

Narcissa sighed, this was going to take a long long time with all the paintings everywhere in the castle. Trying to limit the possibilities, she tried to recall all the statues first, since she was pretty certain that there were less statues in the castle.

_Where did that secret passage, Regulus was telling me about the other night, lead again? Honeydukes, right. Wait! 'A passage to nectar's door', that could be Honeydukes. Which statue is marking the entrance though?_ Narcissa could clearly remember a hump-backed witch's statue, but she couldn't for the life of her remember the witch's name.

Mumbling names under her breath, Narcissa walked up and down the path in front of the dead end. She was this close, she could feel it. If she could just think of the name.

"Gunhilda of Gorsemoor!" she exclaimed suddenly. With a pop the canvas disappeared and the shrubs in front of her parted.

Narcissa followed the path for a while, not seeing anything but shrubs to either side of her. She was beginning to wonder, if she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, but she had never been given a choice in what direction to continue, so that couldn't be it.

Suddenly the path dropped away at her feet. Looking down she found herself standing at the edge of a cliff. She took a step back quickly. Cautiously looking over the edge, she tried to gauge the distance to the path lying below the cliff. It was too high to jump, she decided.

The height was making her dizzy. Walking backwards until she had put some distance between herself and the drop, she sat down on the ground._ How am I supposed to get down there?_

Climbing was out of the question. Just looking down the cliff made her dizzy, she could only imagine how climbing down would make her feel. Flying wasn't an option either. She didn't own a broom, had never enjoyed her flying lessons or developed a passion for Quidditch.

What else could she do? She tried to think of a spell that might help her, but all the Levitation Spells she knew could move everything, but the wizard who cast them. The only other spell that would work, was the apparition spell.

Narcissa wouldn't turn seventeen for another two months, so she had only started her apparition lessons a few weeks prior. She had yet to apparate into the second hoop successfully without splinching herself. Her aim was pretty accurate, but some little part of her body was always left behind.

Returning to the edge of the cliff, she looked down experimentally. Immediately a spell of dizziness hit her and she stepped back again. Her brief glance downwards had shown her, that the distance between the top and the bottom of the cliff was bigger than the distance between the hoops was during their lessons.

Apparating would be a risky endeavour, but it seemed to be her only option short of climbing. Narcissa preferred splinching herself to falling down the cliff, so Apparating it was.

Stepping up to the edge of the cliff once more, she closed her eyes and recalled the three D's her instructor had told them about: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. She whispered them over and over again, like a mantra. Taking a deep calming breath she opened her eyes, focused on one particular spot on the path below and turned.

Nothing happened! Narcissa still stood at the top of the cliff. Her legs were wobbling slightly, but everything else was the same as it had been before.

Focusing on her destination, Narcissa tried again. Her fists clenched at her sides and she was biting her lower lip viciously as she turned. She felt like she was being pressed through a tight opening. She couldn't breath. After a second, the horrible sensation passed and she was standing on solid ground once more.

Looking up, she could see the edge of the cliff high above her. No part of her had been left behind, the apparition had been complete. Drawing a relieved breath, Narcissa walked down the path and away from the cliff. She couldn't believe that she had apparated successfully.

The path ended in another dead end. A bright orange bird was perched on top of a stone carving of a huge book. Narcissa didn't let the bird out of her sight as she stepped towards the carving. A message was carved into the pages of the open book. Narcissa bent forwards to read:

_The way ahead is sealed, and the door will only open to the Fwooper's song. Remove her silencing charm at your own risk._

A Fwooper, one of those magical creatures, she'd never wanted to encounter. She was afraid of loosing her mind and becoming nothing more than a burden to her family. What use was she to anyone if she was insane? Her sister Bellatrix might be able to get along fine without planning her actions beforehand, but Narcissa was known for over-thinking things at times. Her mind was her strongest weapon.

She had to block her ears somehow, so that no sound would be able to penetrate her brain. Covering her ears wouldn't suffice, neither would using cotton wool, because both couldn't keep all sounds at bay.

_Didn't one of the heroes in mother's beloved Greek myths have a similar problem?_ Narcissa tried to remember the stories her mother had told the three sisters when they were younger. She had always liked them, especially the one about the Trojan War. The story of Odysseus and the Sirens popped up in her mind suddenly. Yes, that was definitely the story she was looking for.

Odysseus had to block the ears of his ship's crew, so they wouldn't steer the ship towards the Sirens and against the cliffs. He himself wanted to listen to their song, so he told them to bind him to the mast. _Didn't he use wax to block their ears?_

Narcissa wasn't sure if the myth had a true core. Could wax really block all sound? But her mother wouldn't tell the stories, if she didn't believe in them. Narcissa decided that there had to be a grain of truth in it.

Waving her wand, she muttered: " _Accio Wax!_ " A small amount of wax, right out of the Great Hall, landed on her outstretched palm. Quickly dividing it in two, she plucked the wax balls into her ears and took the silencing charm off the Fwooper.

The bird seemed to start singing, but Narcissa could only see how it opened its beak, no sound passed the wax in her ears. Relieved she watched as the shrubs in front of her moved apart, creating a doorway. She hurried through it immediately, not wanting to take any chances.

A spell hit her the moment the shrubs closed behind her. Narcissa didn't know where the spell had come from and when she tried to turn around, she found that she couldn't move. Her wand, even though it was still clutched in her hand, was useless. She couldn't move her arm to carry out the motions necessary for a Counter-jinx.

Straining her ears, she listened closely to the sounds in the night air. She might have been unable to fight in her current condition, but that didn't mean that she would let her guard down. She wanted to know when her attacker approached her, if for nothing else but to be expecting the pain when he attacked.

Minutes passed, but nothing happened. All she could hear were the sound of the wind and the gentle rustling of the leaves. It seemed as if whoever had attacked her, had left after casting the spell.

Narcissa exhaled relieved. She didn't have to fight anyone, all she had to do was counter the spell and then she could go on. But first she had to find a way to undo the spell that wouldn't require her to move.

She was still standing upright and her legs and arms were in exactly the same position as they had been when the spell hit her. The fact that they weren't glued to her side told her, that it wasn't a body-bind. Not a Stunner either, because she wasn't unconscious. That left only the Impediment Curse. She knew that if a weak wizard cast it, it would wear off after a while, but if her attacker had been weak, it would have worn off by now. Since it hadn't done that, she was pretty sure it wouldn't wear off at all.

Her only chance to break the spell in the state she was in at the moment, was to use non-verbal spells while trying to do wandless magic. Each of them on its own was difficult enough. Putting both forms of magic together required enormous willpower.

Narcissa took deep breaths. Her heart rate slowed done and she felt calmer than before. Blocking all sounds and smells out, she concentrated on her limbs. The key to countering the spell was to will her limbs to move and focus on what this movement felt like. Focusing all her energy, she almost screamed in her mind: " _Finite Incantatem!_ "

A second later she fell to the ground. The Counter-Jinx had drained all her energy and left her gasping for breath.

For a long time, Narcissa just sat there on the ground. She didn't think she could move, even if she wanted to. She just wanted to rest for a minute, then she would go on. She closed her eyes and put her head down on her arms.

She didn't know how long she had lain on the ground, but the longer she rested, the more insistent became the pulling sensation in her stomach, until it was nearly unbearable. She was on her feet again in an instant, moving through another archway in the shrubs.

Her feet felt like lead. She stumbled more than walked along the path, but she didn't care. She just wanted to find whatever was calling her, get out of the maze and sleep for a day. The strain, she had put her body through, was finally catching up with her.

She tripped over some twigs and nearly fell facedown on the floor. Catching herself at the last second, she looked around. The walls of this new area were covered in pretty posing fairies and another stone carving of a large book dominated the centre of the clearing. Stepping closer, she read the text carved into the open pages of the book:

_An Augurey is trapped in a cage ahead. Using your wits, wand, and the materials at hand, lure the Augurey into the cage by the door. Only when trapped there and allowed to cry, will the door open._

Augureys, she knew, were Irish Phoenixes, who always cried before it started to rain. Her aunt owned one of them, but Narcissa had never been too fond of it. It wasn't much to look at anyway, with its large sad eyes, dull greenish feathers and thin frame. Five-year-old Narcissa had cried the first time she had seen her aunt feed it with fairies. She hadn't understood why her aunt would sacrifice something as beautiful as a fairy, for a worthless bird, that didn't do anything but tell her when it was going to rain.

Gazing at all the fairies around her, Narcissa felt the same sadness well up inside her again. She would have to sacrifice some of them in order to complete her task.

She raised her wand, pointed it at the fairies closest to her and cast a quick binding spell: " _Incarcerous!_ " Thick robes shot out of her wand and bound two of them tightly. The fairies struggled and tried to undo the robes, but their weak magical powers were no match for Narcissa's spell, regardless of how weak she herself was feeling.

Bending down quickly, she picked the fairies up and put them in the cage by the door. Then she crossed the open space and let the Augurey out of its cage. When it didn't move, she remembered that Augureys didn't leave their nests unless it was raining, so she cast another spell that made water come out of her wand and wet the Augurey's nest.

The bird charged into the clearing, but before it could attack the remaining fairies, they had started to flee. The few, who weren't fast enough, stalled the Augurey with their magic until they were out of harms way. Circling the now empty space twice, the Augurey finally saw the two fairies in the cage. Swooping down next to them, it was about to take them back to its nest, when Narcissa banged the door shut, effectively trapping it.

After a while the Augurey ceased its nervous fluttering and turned its attention back to the two bound fairies. Narcissa averted her eyes as it began eating them and prayed that it would begin to cry soon.

Narcissa didn't have to wait, long before she heard its distinctive cry ring through the air.

Without another backwards glance, Narcissa stepped through the newly opened archway and moved on. The path led into another clearing. A large stone bench with a cauldron and lots of different jars on it dominated the free space. A role of parchment was lying right next to the cauldron. Behind the stone bench, a short distance away, she could already see the end of the maze. Unrolling the parchment, Narcissa read:

_Quick the word and smooth the tongue,_

_In final task 'till you be done,_

_Here's your chance, brew your aid,_

_So if you are by chance delayed  
An excuse you might make,  
So home the prize you might take._

While she read the note, Narcissa's eyes went bigger and bigger. She was supposed to do WHAT? Brew an antidote to Veritaserum? She didn't even know how to brew Veritaserum, leave alone it's antidote. All she really knew about Veritaserum, was that it contained Jobberknoll feathers.

She had come so close to the end, she couldn't give up now. Even if she had wanted to, the irresistible pull, which had taken hold of her entire body by now, wouldn't let her give up. She knew that she wouldn't be able to finish this last task, if she didn't improvise. Experimenting with potions was dangerous at best, but it was her only option if she wanted to continue.

After a cursory glance through the ingredients, she noticed some Jobberknoll feathers and decided, that she would use them as the basis of her potion. Selecting a few other ingredients, whose effects were similar to what she wanted to achieve, she set about preparing them.

She only hoped that her concoction wouldn't blow up in her face, because she had no idea, what exactly she was creating. Come to think about it, her potion could even be poisonous. Shaking her head at herself, she threw the feathers into the cauldron, which was filled with boiling water by now. Worrying wouldn't do her any good and hopefully she wouldn't have to use the potion at all.

Adding in the other ingredients, she slowly stirred the solution. Seven clockwise and eight counter-clockwise stirs. Letting the potion simmer for a while, Narcissa turned her gaze towards the end of the maze. Her mind was consumed by thoughts of what might lie behind that final door.

She had gone into the maze as a way to cure her boredom, but what kept her going even now, after the numerous tasks she had had to perform, was the strange sensation that had taken a hold of her the second she had gotten to the maze. Normally, she wouldn't have dared to experiment with a potion, but a need to prove herself had overridden her caution. She didn't know why, but she felt like the maze was intended just for her, that she was meant to go through it, had been born to do it.

She bottled her potion, careful not to spill anything, and pocketed the flask. Stepping around the stone bench, she headed towards the final door cautiously.

She was mere feet away from the door, when a small toad-faced witch stepped in front of her. Behind her a number of younger wizards and witches stood, making it impossible to slip past the plump witch in front of her, Dolores Umbridge.

Narcissa stopped. Her face was a perfect mask, not giving away any of her annoyance. Who did this woman think she was? Even if she wasn't on Hogwarts grounds anymore, Umbridge didn't have a say in what she did and didn't do. Raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow, Narcissa silently inquired as to why she had been stopped.

Umbridge seemed to be getting angry at that. She placed a truth charm on Narcissa and bit out: "You, what have you been doing out here?"

Narcissa bristled. Umbridge didn't have any power over her. Who was she to demand answers from her like that? Narcissa made a move to step around her, but when the students behind her drew their wands, she reconsidered. It seemed she didn't have an option here, but had to comply with Umbridge's order.

Raising her head, she gave her an insolent look and drawled: "I went for a walk through this lovely garden, picked some flowers on the way. Then I had an interesting run in with my aunt's family tree tapestry, solved a riddle and practiced Apparating. After that I saw some birds, practiced charms and brewed a potion."

"And what made you come out here at this ungodly hour?" Umbridge's patience was wearing thin. This wasn't going according to her plan at all.

"Curiosity!" Narcissa's simple answer earned her a glare from the students assembled behind Umbridge.

Umbridge didn't look satisfied, but short of torturing her, there was nothing she could do to get real answers out of her. Narcissa smirked and went to step past her again. Finally admitting defeat, Umbridge waved her lackeys aside and let Narcissa continue on.

Finally reaching the door, Narcissa knew she had reached her destination even before she opened it. The first thing she saw, when she stepped through it, was a huge glass case in the middle of the clearing. The glass case held a delicate silver necklace with a beautiful fairy charm on it. The necklace looked to be very old.

Narcissa held her breath as she opened the glass case and touched the necklace. A reverent look crossed her face. The necklace wasn't just a random necklace, like she had thought at first, it was her grandmother's old necklace. A family heirloom that had been lost after her grandmother's death and that was now returned to her family again.

Narcissa took the necklace out and fastened the chain around her neck. A warm feeling spread through her. Wearing the necklace felt right on so many levels, she knew, in that moment, that she had been meant to wear it all along.

Suddenly overcome by sleepiness again, Narcissa yawned. Her adventurous night coming to a close, she made her way back to the castle. Once down in the familiar confines of her dorm, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


End file.
